French Lake Fishing Reports

[Scott M]

Gary Clancy's daughter's boyfriend caught his first muskie, a 52.5 incher out there a few weeks back. It won't get much better than that, better hang it up now. Clancy wrote about how shallow the access was. He also saw another guy c&r a 40"er.

[Morneau132]

Gary Clancy's daughter's boyfriend caught his first muskie.....

That could have been me.... boy did i screw that one up

[TSchultz]

What does the water clarity and condition look like? If the landing has been dredged maybe I can get out there again.

[MNNGRTRHD]

I fished french two years ago. Was deployed to Iraq last summer.

Think the lifted truck on 35" helped. Had all four truck tires in the water.

[riverrat56]

Originally Posted By: da_chise31

Gary Clancy's daughter's boyfriend caught his first muskie.....

That could have been me.... boy did i screw that one up

Lost a big muskie or you were dating his daughter?

[love2fish4ever]

Good one Riverrat!

[Morneau132]

daughter

[rugbymn]

What does the water clarity and condition look like? If the landing has been dredged maybe I can get out there again.

I was out there Saturday and the public landing was shallow, but fine as long as you don't stray more than 8' or so from the side of the dock.

There was a big speed boat that couldn't put in at the public landing because it was too shallow for him, but there were already enough of those idiots out there.

The water clarity looked pretty good once you got about 50-100 yards off shore. A bit above average for most southern MN lakes

[mountaindew]

Can someone take a shot of the public landing? I know I won't be able to get my pontoon in there, but I've got a 14 footer flat bottom boat run by a 3.3 that I use for duck hunting. I live in Janesville, and would like to take my 14 year old son Zachary out to French to try out for muskie. It'll be a first time for him!

Would the little boat work on the landing?

[Matt C]

You can get a toon in there if you want to walk it a bit. Your 14 footer will easily go in. I had my 18 foot Deep V in and out of there all weekend. Just have to be careful.

[TSchultz]

Well I tried to get out there on Friday. If the DNR dredged it they sure didn't take very much out it seemed like. I needed about 3 more inches of drop to get my boat off the bunks.

Mountaindew, you should be fine getting a 14'er out there I saw a pretty good sized Lund coming back out after my attemept, but he had a roller trailer, and was able to get it cranked back on, even with the shallow landing.

I wish I could get out there. It would be nice to have a muskie lake that I could just pop up to after work and fish instead of having to make an actual trip out of it to head up to one of the metro lakes. Big difference in having to only drive 45 mins vs 2 hours when you're heading home late at night.

[Morneau132]

And have a guy walk the boat 20-30 yards.....

[dcmusky]

Well I tried to get out there on Friday. If the DNR dredged it they sure didn't take very much out it seemed like. I needed about 3 more inches of drop to get my boat off the bunks.

Mountaindew, you should be fine getting a 14'er out there I saw a pretty good sized Lund coming back out after my attemept, but he had a roller trailer, and was able to get it cranked back on, even with the shallow landing.

I wish I could get out there. It would be nice to have a muskie lake that I could just pop up to after work and fish instead of having to make an actual trip out of it to head up to one of the metro lakes. Big difference in having to only drive 45 mins vs 2 hours when you're heading home late at night.

If you want it you have to fight for it!

[Muddog]

Quote:

That was Knipple's Resort & he used to charge $5 too launch (a fair price), but I accidently took that road off 21 thinking it was the right one, well, I had to turn around down there. Man there are some nice homes there & I sort of doubt they would want people to access there, plus I think it tapers slowly there too, not much better as I remember. Could be wrong, but an alternative is definitely needed, unless like you said, they want to keep it slightly inaccessible to the masses.Which would make it a gem to those who could get in there or make the effort to find a way to fish it. For now it's off limits to me. Let them grow I guess. L2f

I have always found it to be strange when people buy land next to public land and then complain when the pubic want to use the land.

I also find it funnie how all of a sudden the post say that the lake is so much more accessable now.

[mountaindew]

Thanks guys for the info!

I will use the 14 footer aluminum boat to get in, fish and see what's the situation there first before I bring my pontoon out there.

I used to have a pontoon scissor type of trailer where you'd just lay the pontoon right on the ground. Now that I've bought a different type of trailer, (trade my scissor trailer in) a wide bunk style that's almost 2 feet high. I'd need to really get the trailer waaaaaay in to get the pontoon toons in the water.

I'm kicking myself in the butt for trading that scissor trailer! Oh well. That's ok. I really wanted to have a much more stable ride anyways. I love the new trailer. It's really safer.

I take my pontoon pretty much anywhere in the state. I've taken it up to Leech, Mille Lacs, etc. By the way, my pontoon is a home built pontoon, I've bought the toons, furniture from an auction web site, home made aluminum cross members from a friend of mine from a metal fabricator. Nothing fancy compared to the NICE pontoons out there, but mine is built strong, sturdy and is a fishing pontoon with ALOT of decking space for casting! 24 feet long!

Wish I could take it to French for muskie, but that 14 footer will do fine for now. And I will get the feel of the public landing and see how it goes. My son is looking forward to it! Trying to figure out when we can get out there. Probably this weekend.

Will post the results.

Thanks again!

[local laker]

i hope this rain helps,i got my 17'aluminum v hull stuck in front of the access this weekend.2 of us had to get out & push it free.We had 4 in the boat.No muskie's either.